UNESCO CHAIR: PUBLICATIONS and EVENTS

Blending of expertise to advance the sustainability of Latvian education: ISE and SWEDESD partnership continued

On 17-18 April 2013, SWEDESD network celebrated another episode in the series of efforts spearheaded by this organisation to promote education for sustainable development across Scandinavia and the Baltics. In close association with the Embassy of Sweden (spokesperson Ms Gaļina Aizvakara) and the Centre for Sustainable Business at Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (delegate Ms Maija Kāle), SWEDESD hosted a seminar on education for sustainable development to a cohort of fifty stakeholders that included teachers of all subject areas and school administrators from all regions of Latvia. The Institute of Sustainable Education (ISE) was represented by its director associate professor Dzintra Iliško who shared the institute’s expertise with the educators present.

The participants were gathered to discuss focal issues and challenges inherent in the integration of sustainability in the school curriculum. During the seminar, the organisers introduced a set of expressly designed educational materials which were recognised by teachers in attendance as serviceable resource for bringing sustainability related issues into Latvian schools. The conversation fuelling World Café Method served to draw the participants in an open and comprehensive discussion of the pedagogical needs and opportunities relevant to the integration of sustainability in the school curriculum.